


Servants of the Gods

by artsyAquarius



Series: Blackmagicstuck [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Body Horror, Gen, Gods, Grimdark, Humanstuck, Paranormal, Supernatural Elements, Tentacle Monsters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3403895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyAquarius/pseuds/artsyAquarius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a wonderful tumblr post, this story follows the lives of several youths estranged from society due to strange occurrences that lead to them meeting and discovering the world has a bigger plan in store for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this story came from an amazing post that I've linked in this chapter. Please take a look at it!  
> I'm tagging anything of relevance as "servants of the gods" and "blackmagicstuck"!

(inspired by [this post](http://kataramaryam.tumblr.com/post/111456682536/terezi-pie-rope-sermna-morningthief-sermna))

Rose feels the bile rise up in her chest as she waits for her bus and thinks: it’s far too early for this. People are starting to arrive. She clenches her teeth and swallow hard against the oily tentacle climbing up her throat. She opens her mouth slightly and a trickle of sea water pours out. At least it wasn't the thick black tar she usually spat up. Or blood.  
She stares at the ground but she still hears the girl walk up and stand next to her.  
"Are you Rose Lalonde, by any chance?" the girl asks, with a voice far too cheerful for someone addressing the girl most people believed to be a demon.  
Rose nodded and turns her gaze towards the girl.  
She has dark skin and eyes, wearing dark pink-framed glasses. Her hair is oddly shiny, despite its messiness. It curls around itself like thick ropy tendrils.  
The girl grins, her teeth perfectly white and just a bit too sharp. "I'm Feferi Peixes," she says gleefully, extending a hand which Rose shakes tentatively. Feferi leans in close to Rose and whispers; "I've heard them, too."  
Rose stumbles back. "Excuse me?" was what she had wanted to say; instead, a tentacle darted out of her mouth, along with some of the black tar. She quickly covers her mouth with her hands, attempting to cover the fiasco with a fake cough.  
Feferi smiles at her sympathetically, offering her a handkerchief which she gladly accepts. "The horrorterrors. The tentacle beasts? I've spoken to them as well."  
Rose raises an eyebrow sceptically.  
"Oh, really?" she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She had never heard the phrase 'horrorterrors' used before; frankly, it just sounded ridiculous. This girl was most likely making things up to.....get on good terms with Rose? That didn't much sense to her, seeing as Feferi didn't seem like the type of girl who befriended goths with exotic illnesses.  
Feferi nods eagerly, taking Rose's elbow and dragging her away from the bus shelter, just beside the edge of the wide forest that encircled their city.  
"I contacted them a while ago, too. I found out about them from this old dark magic book my friend owns, can you believe it?" she giggles, like it was a hilarious coincidence.  
Rose allows herself a small chuckle. Nothing comes up from her throat, thank goodness. "Actually, I can. I discovered these monsters in a very similar way." She remembers the heavy leather-covered book filled with detailed illustrations of terrifying beasts with Latin names she later looked up and found them to be even more frightening than the pictures. She remembers uttering the summoning spell in a whispered hush while her mother slept drunkenly in the room next to Rose's.  
She remembers their voices, oh god, the voices so loud and staticky and gargling, screeching nonsense that she felt as if her eardrums would burst.  
The next day she had found herself speaking the same gibberish, though of course it didn't have nearly the effect the monsters had on her. She had managed to frighten away all but the closest of her friends, and even they were afraid of her. Then there were all the grotesque things that came out of her mouth. She hadn't been able to hide it all, but her mother had merely mopped up the mess, stroked her head and put her back to bed without any questions.  
Bringing herself out of her dark memories, Rose turned her focus back to Feferi. "So, do you experience these same symptoms, then?" she asks, wiping at the corner of her mouth after Feferi points out the black sludge there.  
The girl shakes her head. "No, I'm not a messenger for them like you. I'm their feeder!"  
Rose gave her a sharp stare. "That sounds horrifying." malicious squid gods wouldn't survive on a diet of fish flakes, she was sure. Feferi seemed overall too happy at the mention of feeding those things, and Rose was beginning to question her motives.  
Feferi fiddles with a bangle on her wrist. "Well....it's not that bad! I mean, sure, it's a lot of work, and it isn't /clean/ work, exactly....but there are benefits! I get nice little gifts from them as a reward for keeping them happy, so it's-"  
"Wait a second, what gifts?" Rose interrupts, memories tugging at the edge of her mind.  
Feferi blinks. "Um, well....sometimes I'll find a pile of coins on the way back, or precious gemstones....sometimes jewellery and trinkets too! I think they just find things on the ocean floor and decide to give them to me, as a form of payment I guess?" Rose had furrowed her brow while Feferi was talking.  
"Surely you've gotten things like that, too?"  
The memories had come back to Rose. She hadn't often been near the ocean, but she always wondered how pearls, seashells, and pieces of driftwood end up on her windowsill.  
It was a fair enough deal that Feferi was being paid to feed them, but what exactly was Rose doing? Perhaps the garbled language she sometimes felt possessed to speak actually meant something? Hadn't Feferi mentioned something about being a messenger?  
"Yes, I have occasionally received gifts of that sort." she says through gritted teeth. "That's my bus coming now. I should go." Feferi looks disappointed with her curt answer. Rose wants to open up to her, to pour her heart out to this girl who understands at least some of what she's been through.  
But she can't bring herself to trust her. Not yet.  
Feferi grabs Rose's sleeve before she can escape. "Meet me here again tomorrow? Please? I can bring you to them. I can help you." She looks so hopeful, and Rose finds herself becoming more and more curious, so she nods swiftly and clambers onto the bus, Feferi's handkerchief still in her pocket.


	2. Chapter 2

The crows were there again. They were always there, no matter where he went or what he did. As soon as he stepped outside, the flock of miserable-sounding black birds were waiting for him, ready to follow him on his way to the bus stop.

Wait. Crows don't have flocks, do they? They have - what was it? - Oh yeah. Murders. Dave would have loved the irony in that if he wasn't so sick of the birds by now.

They didn't just stop at the bus, though. They followed him to school, too, and wherever else he went. And they seem to laughing at him, with their harsh, grating caws.

He'd gotten so used to seeing them everywhere that sometimes, in the right light, his reflection looked like it had wings. Actually, he'd had quite a few dreams about that; another version of himself, oddly orange and with avian features, squawking vicious messages at him. But that Dave wasn't real. He was just a messed-up copy of Real Dave that only existed because of those stupid birds.

Trying to ignore the crows, he made it to the bus stop with little embarrassment, where only two other kids were waiting.

Dave had seen them around before: the Hispanic wheelchair-bound boy with the lame mohawk and the Japanese girl with blood-red lipstick and a creepy-as-fuck grin.

The girl looks up as he approaches; first, directly at Dave, sending chills down his spine, and then at his crows with pleasant curiosity.

"Did you know that crows are often associated with death?" she says in a voice way too casual and conversational for Dave's liking.

"Yeah. I did know that. Thanks." he says gruffly, watching as the birds descend from the tree they were perched in and settle on the ground around Dave's feet.

"I wonder why they follow you around all the time?" she asks absently, pulling out a dinner roll from her pocket and sprinkling crumbs on the ground. She giggles when the crows gobble them up. Dave wonders why the hell she had bread in her fucking pocket when the boy speaks up.

"Maybe it's because you killed one of them?" His voice is quiet and rough but still blunt enough to take Dave off guard.

"What?" he says, harsh enough to make the boy visibly wince.

"Well, uh, that's just what they were saying," his voices takes on a more defensive tone but he looks down at the ground.

Dave raises an eyebrow and gapes for a while. "Wait, hold up. Go back. What do you _mean_ that's what they were saying?"

The boy bites his lip and the girl gives him one of her patented creepy grins that Dave guesses is meant to be encouraging.

"Well, I mean, that's what I heard them say, is all."

Dave gave him a dead-pan stare through his sunglasses. "You can talk to birds." this kid was trying too hard. There's no way he could possibly know what happened all those years ago.

"Actually, Tavros can speak to any animal!" The girl chirps up.

Tavros draws his eyebrows in together. "Aradia...." His voice trails off, unsure what he's trying to say.

Aradia raises an eyebrow and smiles. "What? You were the one who brought it up!"

Dave eyes them warily. They've got to be crazy. But then again, crazier things had happened to Dave and his friends. But they 3333iat least _tried_ to hide those things instead of blurting it out to whoever would listen. "You can talk to animals, huh? Prove it."

Tavros frowned. "What, you don't believe me?"

Dave shook his head. "Not until you give me proof. Ain't no way I'm gonna believe you can chat it up with crows unless I can see it in person."

Tavros sighs and lets out a little groan like Dave had just asked him to do a particularly boring chore. He cleared his throat, tilted his head back and took a deep breath. What came out of his throat was a guttural, creaking noise, exactly like crows made.

"Holy shit," Dave mutters, slightly horrified.

The birds respond with their own calls and begin a conversation with Tavros, who seems to have forgotten about Aradia and Dave.

Dave stares in shock while Aradia gauges his reaction and chuckles to herself until Tavros is finished.

“They said they started following you after you killed one of them with a sword. After a while they, uh…saw something special in you and wanted to protect you? They also said something, about getting food from you.”

Aradia tilts her head. “How did you kill a crow with a sword?” she asks with what appears to be genuine curiosity.

Dave shakes his head absently, trying to rack his memory. “It was when I was a little kid. Me and my bro were in the middle of a battle and I swung at him, but I missed and somehow hit the bird instead?” he shrugs. “Don’t even know how I did that. I thought birds were supposed to have super-fast reflexes or something, but whatever. The rest of its dumb family decided to start haunting me after that.”

Tavros and Aradia exchange glances. “But they’re protecting you now?” Aradia asks.

“How the hell should I know? All they’ve done is follow me around, steal my food and leave gross dead things for me to find.” Dave was getting edgy now. He wasn’t sure he wanted to keep talking to these two.

“So you did kill that crow I saw yesterday?”

Dave turns his head towards Aradia. “What?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention! I can talk to ghosts!” she grins broadly. “I see dead people.” She mutters in a dramatic voice, then bursts out laughing.

Dave groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Aradia shakes her head. “No, no, I’m telling you the truth! I saw that crow with the others and I wondered-”

“Yeah, ok, ok, I believe you. I just- ugh, things are getting too weird for me.” There was already the thing with Rose and Jade, and now he finds out there are more people like that?

Tavros seemed to have caught on to Dave’s frustration. “Hey, uh, just so you know…there are more of us out there. That these freaky things are happening to, I mean. We’re trying to find them all so we can work out what’s really happening here.”

“How do you know anything’s going on anyway? How do you know it isn’t some freaky coincidence we should just ignore and get on with our lives?”

“Because the ghosts have told me that it’s not.” Aradia says firmly, staring Dave straight in the eyes. “They’ve said that it’s all part of a plan. That we’re meant to meet up. You can walk away from the all if you want, but I’m certain destiny will catch up with you.” She looks as serious as Dave has ever seen her, which is more frightening than when she was laughing at ghosts and dead crows.

Dave sighed and shifted his feet around. “Ok, fine. If you guys want to have some creepy cult gathering, then sure. Count me in, I guess.”

Aradia grins and Tavros opens his mouth like he’s about to say something, but Dave cuts him off. “Just don’t expect me cotton onto all this ghost whisperer shit straight away.” He turns away but Aradia grabs his wrist tightly, making him just about jump ten feet in the air.

She puts a pen to the back of his hand and writes a number there. “Just in case something else happens!” she grins brightly then releases him.

He’s not sure whether she was flirting or not, but either way it was the first time he’d ever gotten a stranger’s number.

 

 

**tentacleTherapist[TT] started pestering turntechGodhead [TG]**

TT: Are you there, Dave?

TG: yeah sup rose

TG: you’ll never guess what happened today

TT: Are you sure about that?

TG: i'm sure you’re pulling more of your condescending crap so i'm just gonna tell you

TG: i met this guy who could actually speak crow language and a girl who can see ghosts apparently

TG: didn’t stick around long enough to find out

TT: Fascinating. I’m sure John would be interested to know that.

TG: yeah i'll him later

TT: Do you want to know how my day went?

TG: yeah sure go ahead

TT: I met this girl who also has made contact with the eldritch tentacle monsters.

TG: whoa shit really

TT: Apparently she’s their feeder. I’m meeting her tomorrow to hopefully find some answers.

Dave looks at the number on his hand. Should he make an effort to see them, or wait for them to come to him?

TG: should we tell jade about this

TT: You can try. I don’t know how…receptive she’ll be towards it. But it’s definitely worth a shot.

TG: k bye

TG: lemme know if anything else weird happens

**tentacleTherapist[TT] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]**

 

Dave leant back in his chair. When Jade was in a good mood, she was always great to talk to. Sometimes she even had weirdly cryptic clues to give them for no reason she’d care to explain.

She also wasn’t as snide as Rose and took things a little more serious than John, which was a bonus.

 

**turntechGodhead [TG] started pestering gardenGnostic [GG]**

TG: yo jade you there

TG: jade

TG: jade come on i really need to talk to you

GG: what is it!

TG: oh good youre there

TG: listen i met some really weird people today

GG: ok but can you keep it short? I’m kind of busy right now!

TG: what’s up

GG: seriously dave? You know what’s up!

TG: oh right

TG: it’s a full moon tonight isn’t it

GG: yes it is

TG: ok well youre obviously not in the right mood for chit chat now so i guess i'll leave you alone

GG: sorry dave :(

TG: nah its fine i get it

TG: make sure you talk to john ok

GG: ok :P

GG: thanks for understanding!

TG: no worries

GG: <3

**turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG]**


	3. Chapter 3

John hurries through the wilderness as fast as he is able to while carrying a crate full of raw meat fresh from the butcher's.   
He treads his way through the familiar track, stepping over branches and rocks until he can see the crumbling building up ahead.   
It's a small cabin with broken windows and bricks missing from the walls. The tin roof is battered and close to collapsing. A few stray dogs growl at him as he walks past them, but he takes no notice of them and they stop. They're familiar enough with him by now that they leave him alone for the most part.   
As he gets closer to the house, the plants grow thicker and wilder. There's a vast greenhouse just behind the cottage, and John can see shadows moving behind the steam-covered glass.   
"I think Jade's yard could use a lawnmower."  
John smiles and shakes his head endearingly at his grandmother's sudden appearance. "I don't think she'd like that too much, Nanna! She's really attached to those plants."   
John's Nanna had died the day he was born. He was the only one who was able to see her, and he'd been seeing her since he was very young. His father had thought she was just John's imaginary friend, but had grown concerned when John kept at it.   
John had seen a therapist several times, but it never changed anything.   
Constantly talking to himself had lost him a lot of friends; the only ones that stuck around were the ones he'd met online, and his cousin Jade.  
But John had never been bothered by any of this.  
Nanna had always been supportive and kind to him, so she wasn't a worry.   
John pauses to pick some bristles out of his socks. Even though Jade's yard was full of weeds and thistles, she took care of them very well.   
John raises his hand and knocks on the door three times. He hears Jade rushing towards the door, knocking things over on her way. She opens up and smiles warily at John. She looks exhausted. Her hair is wilder than usual, her eyes red from lack of sleep and her clothes look like they haven't been washed properly in a few days. "You don't have to knock so loud, you know." she says, but folds him into a hug nonetheless.   
John laughs softly, patting her on the back as it's difficult to hug someone while holding a huge wooden crate. "Nanna thinks you should trim your lawn," he jabs, grinning.   
Jade snickers. "Well, you can tell her no way!"   
John glances over to his grandmother. "You don't know what kinds of creepy-crawlies you're inviting!" the ghost protests, knowing it's futile.   
John watches as Jade stares at the crate with a slightly frightening hunger in her eyes, licking her lips.   
“Thanks for bringing this, John.” She says, taking the crate from him and placing in on a cabinet. John always struggles a bit to carry the crates but Jade lifts them effortlessly.   
“No problem! I know it’s hard for you to get out now, especially when you’re…” he tried to be careful with his words, knowing how easily agitated she gets at this time. “Going through all of that,” he finishes off, earning him a raised eyebrow from his sister.   
She runs a hand through her terribly matted hair, which looks extremely painful to John but she doesn’t seem to notice. “I should probably try to get out of the house more. It’s just that I never really got the chance to socialise! Plus the dogs and the plants always need taking care of…”  
“It’s fine, Jade. We all know you’re busy.” Jade had been raised by their grandfather, and when he passed away Jade had nothing but his green house. She had been home-schooled by him, so the old cottage was the only place she’d ever really known. Grandpa Harley had left plenty of things behind to keep her occupied, like the plants, some gadgets he hadn’t quite finished building, and of course the collection of firearms.   
After he was killed a few years ago, Jade began to change, in more ways than one. Her mood was effected by the phases of the moon. Canines were drawn to her. She became more obsessed with her plants, especially those of the carnivorous variety, and her appetite had grown considerably. She had become a werewolf.   
No one could explain how or why, but the sudden loss of her guardian had triggered these changes in her. Every month, just before the full moon, John brought her the crates to stop her going out and killing live animals instead. They couldn't risk anyone seeing her. She was too afraid to go out in public herself, just in case she showed any signs of being ‘not normal’, as she put it. John had tried to explain to her that not many of them were normal anyway, but he didn’t pressure her.   
He notices the colourful bands on her fingers with slight amusement, and chuckles.   
She catches him staring and blushes. “It’s silly that I still wear them, isn't it?” she says bashfully, fiddling with them.   
John shakes his head. “No, no, I think it’s nice that you keep them! Good…sentimental value, right?”   
Jade smiles and shrugs. “I guess so! I’m not even sure they really even help when…when I turn, but it makes me feel better when I’m back to normal.”   
John shrugs. "Well, that's something, at least."   
Jade's stomach rumbls audibly. She shoots a quick sheepish glance at the crate on the floor and looks back at the table.  
John follows her gaze. "Did you want to eat it now?" he asks softly.   
She purses her lips and shakes her head, still not raising her eyes. "No, I should save it for tonight." She took a sharp breath but ignored it, clawing at her scalp with sharp, long-unclipped nails.   
John notices her breath quickening and her eyes glassing over. "Do you want me to leave?" he asks gently. He wouldn't take offense if she did. He knew she didn't like anyone to see her transform.   
She swallows hard. She had always been very polite, but she trusted John enough now to be upfront with him "Yes please. Sorry, John," she adds quickly, not letting her distress get in the way of good manners.   
"It's fine." John says, standing up to leave. "Take care, ok?"   
When he left the cottage he could see the full moon already rising in the sky. He had probably stayed too long. A little later and it would have been too dark to walk home on his own.   
Nanna had reappeared and was staring forlornly back at the cottage. "The poor girl..." she murmurs now, making John jump a little. "I worry about her."  
More strays had appeared since they had arrived. A crashing sound could be heard inside the building. The dogs all start howling at once: a mournful, wailing, pitiful sound that make the hairs on John's neck stand up. "Yeah. Me too, Nanna."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey! Rose!" 

Feferi runs towards the bus stop, waving widely, a huge grin on her face.   
Rose walks up to meet her, smiling in a reserved kind of way, and notices the boy trailing along behind Feferi. "Eridan Ampora." She says venomously. Eridan went to school with her, and they a long-running rivalry in all their classes.   
"Rose," he says quickly, not meeting her eye. He still has that ridiculous bleached streak of hair and those obnoxious glasses. He turns to Feferi, completely shutting out Rose. "See? I told you, didn't I?"   
Rose crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow. "Told her what, exactly?"   
Eridan winces at the harshness of her voice, an especially dark tone she reserved just for him. "I told her how you're always spittin' up weird things in class thinkin' nobody notices." he fixes her with a self-satisfied smirk. "But I noticed."  
She rolls her eyes and sighs deeply. "You're very observant. Congratulations." this time Rose turns sharply to Feferi. "What is he doing here?" she says curtly. She hadn't been expecting a third party on their little adventure.   
Feferi tries to smile, obviously feeling uncomfortable about the inevitable conflict between them. "Eridan's my friend. He helps me feed them."   
Eridan riles up immediately. " _Help_?! I fuckin' _kill_ the things for you!" he exclaims.  
Feferi bats his arm. "Shh! Don't say it so loud!"  
Rose smiles at how easily offended he is, but quickly registers what he said and remembers the questions she had from last time.

 "What exactly are you feeding them?"   
Eridan glances at Feferi, and she tilts her head sharply towards Rose, like a mother prompting a child to apologise.   
Eridan scowls but speaks to Rose. "Animals. Any kind, really. Gotta kill a lotta them, though. Those things eat a fuckin' tonne!"   
"They prefer mammals." Feferi interrupts quickly before Eridan has time to complain some more. "Which is why we have to hunt for them. I guess they don't like eating sea-creatures because it's their own kind?" she shrugs as if it's no big deal.   
"That's quite interesting." Rose notes, humming. "You do realise humans are mammals too?"   
Feferi looks almost offended. "Oh, no, they wouldn't eat us! They're very smart. They know that we're here to help them." she sounds so sure of herself, but she says it so quickly that it seems like something she's been taught repeatedly, something she's been forced to believe.   
Putting her psychoanalyses aside, Rose taps her fingers on her crossed arms and says "Well, I supposed you two are their only means of acquiring food, so it wouldn't make any sense for them to get rid of you yet."   
Feferi's eyes widen at the word 'yet', but Eridan huffs impatiently. "Alright, enough with the chatter. Let's just get this over with." he turns and walks off briskly towards where Rose assumes the ocean is. Feferi gives an exasperated sigh and smiles tiredly at Rose. The two seemed a bit like a bickering married couple to her, but Feferi had addressed him as her friend, so Rose didn't think they were in a relationship.

Feferi jerks her head towards the woods. “My car’s just through there. Um, that’s if you don’t mind riding with us? I completely understand if you don’t want to!”

Rose smiles and almost laughs at how flustered she looks. “I’m not worried that you’re going to kidnap me, if that’s what you’re thinking.” The town was definitely strange, but she was certain she knew Eridan well enough to tell that he didn’t wish actual harm upon her. She still wasn’t sure if she trusted Feferi completely, but she seemed genuine enough. Either way, Rose was sure she could overpower either of them if it came to that.

Feferi grins brightly, skipping a little as she walks. She was definitely more upbeat than most of the other townsfolk. Rose wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Just before they reach Feferi’s car – a hot pink Mercedes. A little ridiculous, but a sign her family had a lot of money – Rose’s phone chimes.

_Rosey, where r u??????_

Rose exhales through her teeth. She had hoped Roxy wouldn’t notice her absence, but obviously she’d had no luck. She didn’t like leaving her sister alone, but she really didn’t want to explain herself and she was certain Roxy wouldn’t let her go if she knew what she was doing. Roxy knew about the…horrorterrors, as Feferi had called them. She didn’t trust them at all and wanted Rose to have nothing to do with them.

_I’m out with John. Be back in a few hours xxx_

Roxy liked John. John was dependable and trustworthy and had nothing to do with evil tentacle monsters. He would also likely cover for Rose if Roxy asked him about her.

“Who’s that?” Feferi asks conversationally.

Rose locks her phone and puts it back in her pocket. “My sister.” She says. “Just asking where I am. Which reminds me; do your families know what you’re doing?”

Feferi hesitates, opening and closing her mouth a few times. “My mom has an idea that I’m doing _something,_ but she wouldn’t have any idea about what’s really happening.” Rose has the feeling there’s more, but she doesn’t press her.

Eridan huffs. “My dad doesn’t give a shit what I do in my spare time. Probably a convenience to him when I’m out a the house.” The strange way he pronounces his ‘v’s and ‘w’s is much more obvious when he’s trying to hide how upset he is. “But anyway, we didn’t come here to talk about family matters.” He walks around to the passenger side of the car and opens the door, slipping and quickly.

Feferi gets into the driver’s seat, looking a little embarrassed. Rose guessed she didn’t like talking about her family too much.

Rose gets into the back seat and buckles up, registering the large rifle on the seat next to her. “That’s quite a big weapon.”

“I ain’t gonna use a shitty _pistol_ or nothin’ to get the job done.” Eridan says pompously. Rose knew that Jade used rifles too, but after that point her knowledge on firearms was very limited.

Then the smell hit her. The stench of rotting flesh was strong enough to make her gag, bringing up a few tentacles on the way.

Feferi gives her a concerned look through the rear-view mirror. “Are you alright, Rose?”

Rose gurgles her words around the tentacles. “The smell…it’s very overpowering,” she winces and grabs the doorhandle so hard her knuckles turn white.

“Do you need to step outside for a while?”

Feferi sounds so much like Roxy in this moment; not disgusted in the least and much more caring and compassionate than she needs to be.

Rose shakes her head, fighting hard to swallow. “No, I’ll be fine, thank you.”

Eridan turns around to look at her. “The beach isn’t too far from here. The only reason we’re taking the car is ‘cause the animal’s too heavy to carry on our own.” Rose raises an eyebrow. How oddly sympathetic that was. “What? I’m not completely heartless, you know.” He says, then turns back around.

They reach the beach in what is probably a few minutes, but it feels like an hour to Rose. The whole time she is choking on sea water and aquatic life forms, and the stench of whatever Eridan had killed was not helping in the slightest. They track they take isn’t much of a track at all; rather, it’s a path the two much have made themselves over time by trampling all the wildlife under the wheels of Feferi’s nearly fluorescent car.

“Here we are!” Feferi says in a sing-song voice as she pulls up on a mound of sand. Rose is quick to open her door and step out of the vehicle, but the smell of the sea breeze didn’t bring up very pleasant memories.

She faces the ocean and breathes through her nose, trying to suppress the rising anxiety forming in her stomach. She feels her feet sinking into the sand, and then Feferi’s hand is on her back, rubbing in little circles. Rose is surprised at the sudden show of kindness, but she doesn’t fight it. She finds herself breathing deeper and relaxing.

“I’m really sorry you got caught up in all this, Rose,” Feferi whispers. “If you’re not ready to see them, just say so, alright? I won’t mind. I just thought you might want a bit more insight on what’s going on.”

Rose isn’t sure what to say, but she doesn’t have to as Feferi is already helping Eridan lift something out of the trunk of the car.

It was a dead deer. Rose turns away before she can get a good look at it, not that she wants to, Eridan and Feferi carry it to the shore, dropping it in the water. Eridan stands back, but Feferi stays and kneels on the sand, pushing the carcass further into the water. She’s a lot stronger than Rose expects. The deer has to be almost the same size as her, but she doesn’t seem to notice.

She stands up, wipes the sand from her knees and wipes sweat off of her forehead. She shoots a grin towards Rose and Eridan, but he’s completely on edge; he’s frowning, his muscles are tensed and he looks like he wishes he was gripping the rifle in the back of the car.

Rose is about to snark at him when something moves in the depths of the ocean. Way off in the dark blue water, an enormous shadow is rising to the surface. It looks like a giant storm cloud, until a tendril extends outwards, towards the dead deer.

Rose feels a jolt when she realises that this is one of them; one of the monsters who took control of her body, who made her an outcast, who haunted her nightmares.

The tentacle wrapped around the unfortunate animal; a slimy black tendril, as thick as a tree branch, with inky purple suction cups on the underside.

Before she can contain herself, Rose begins murmuring in that strange gibberish language not even she can understand. Eridan watches her, astounded, and curses before looking at Feferi as if she can make it clear.

Feferi looks very concerned, but she keeps glancing at the tentacle as it drags the carcass into the water. Eventually it seems like she’s given into a trance – she can’t tear her eyes away from the sea. She takes a few steps into the water like a sleepwalker.

Eridan snaps into action, running towards her and wrapping an arm around her middle, dragging her back. She doesn’t resist him.

“Fef, you can come back now. It’s gone.” He whispers gently into her ear, still holding her.

Rose stops muttering after a while. She feels like she’s witnessed something intimate. Feferi blinks and comes back to herself, gently prying Eridan’s arm off of her. Both their faces flush and she gives a shaky laugh. “Sorry, I just…um, how are you feeling, Rose?”

Rose eyes tem suspiciously, but decides not to say anything. “Fine, thank you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go home now.” Seeing the monster in person was not a good idea. She can feel tentacles sliding around in her stomach now. She’s not sure how she feels about everything that just happened, but now she just wants to go home, where everyone at least pretends everything is normal.


	5. Chapter 5

Vriska washes her hands in the bathroom sink; dirt, grime, and the occasional bug leg mix in with the water. She flicks her long blond hair out of the way testily, wishing she had tied it up before she went on her hunt.   
The doorbell rang and she groaned. She was not up for company today.   
She looks down at her favourite gray jacket and sees with disgust and a bit of fear the spider webs caught there.   
Her sister Aranea flings the bathroom door open. She looks much neater than Vriska; her hair is sleeker and her clothes are very tidy and prim, just like Aranea herself. She looks at her younger sister in amusement and shakes her head. "What are you getting up to on those walks of yours?" she enquires, putting on her snotty teacher voice.   
Vriska glares and scuffs her tattered red trainers on the bathroom tiles. "None of your fucking business." she bites, though she doesn't put as much effort into it as she could have.   
Aranea raises an eyebrow. "Wow, no need to get so testy! I just wanted to let you know that Kanaya's here."   
Vriska rolls her eyes. "Again? Really?"   
Aranea smiles. "You should be happy you have a friend who cares about you so much." there's only the slightest touch of bitterness as she says this and walks out of the room.  
Vriska attempts to brush herself off before slowly walking to the front door. When she gets there she places a fist on her hip and scowls dramatically. "What." she drawls.   
Kanaya, her childhood friend, is standing there, looking urgent and clutches a sheet of paper in her hand. She's been covering up her skin a lot more recently, though of course the hijab is nothing new. She's also looking kind of pale, and very tired. "I see you received a note, as well." she says, eloquently as ever, and shoves the paper at Vriska.   
She takes it, still glaring, and reads it. "Oh yeah. This was just stuck on the wall this morning." She had been so anxious to get inside and clean herself off that she hadn't even bothered reading the note. It still looks like it wasn't worth the effort: all it has is an address, a time and a date.   
"I got the exact same note last night." Kanaya says, her brow furrowed. "I think it might have to do with- well, you remember those people I told you about? The people who might be able to help you? I think they-"   
Vriska's eyes narrow. " _You_ planted that note, didn't you?! You're trying to get me to meet up with these _freaks_ -"  
Kanaya looks astounded. "What? No, of course not! That's not even my handwriting; I thought you would have seen that, at least." she crosses her arms and fixes Vriska with a harsh stare but she doesn't back down.   
"I don't _need_ help, you know! There's nothing _wrong_ with me!"   
Kanaya paused, choosing her words carefully. Her voice quietened, which made Vriska uncomfortable. "I never said there was. I just thought that since you won't talk to _me_ , you may want to speak to someone who can understand..." She glances over Vriska quickly. "-Whatever you're going through."  
Vriska rolls her eyes and quickly looks at her reflection in the hallway mirror. Her right eye is normal, with a single round black pupil in the centre surrounded by a grey-blue iris. But her left eye is different; the pupil is covered in a pale white, stringy substance. It breaks the pupil into eight segments.   
"No one understands what I'm going through, ok?" she says, but she's too tired to put much venom in her words. She'd been out all morning, killing any bug or rodent she came across. She felt so tired but she couldn't tell Kanaya that. She couldn't ever let anyone see weakness in her.   
Kanaya's gaze softens. "I know. I really wish you'd trust me, but I'm willing to accept that you feel the need to handle everything yourself." she gives Vriska a small smile that she is tempted to return but doesn't.   
Kanaya leans against the doorway, reminding Vriska that she still hasn't been let in. "I promise you I didn't write that note. But if you come with me tonight, we can find out who did." she looks so earnest that Vriska almost laughs.   
"What if it's some shady gang trying to wipe us both out?" she says, completely serious.   
Kanaya cracks a smirk. "Do you still have your knife?"  
Vriska outright grins. "Of course! You still have your saw?"   
Kanaya nods, her eyes bright. "Then it's settled. I'll pick you up tonight and we can head over together."  
Vriska raises an eyebrow and smiles. "Sounds like you're taking me out on a date." she teases, a common form of banter between the two.   
Kanaya smiles and shakes her head slowly blushing softly. "Just have clean clothes on when I get here. We want to make a good first impression on these people."   
Vriska rolls her eyes before she shuts the door behind Kanaya. She acts like she's Vriska's mother; if her mother was the responsible adult she thought she was.  
After scoffing down a chocolate bar and avoiding Aranea, who was ready in the study, Vriska heads upstairs to her bedroom. She sits on her bed, playing with the blue satin sheets. Kanaya had caught on that something was happening to Vriska, but she wasn't sure what. She kept insisting that she needed to talk to someone about it. But if Vriska revealed her secret, she would be putting herself at risk, and that isn't going to happen anytime soon.   
The journal on her desk catches her eye. She goes over, sweeps away the various sheets of paper on top of it and takes it back over to the bed. The leather covers were faded and many of the pages were ripped or stained, but it was still readable. Vriska flips the pages until she finds the blue ribbon that was attached to the spine, and she reads from where she left off last night. 

  
_The spider is growing more and more demanding with the passing of each day. I have managed to appease her with multitudes of insects, rodents, and the occasional cat or dog, but I am certain the day will soon come where she will ask me to feed her a human being once again. It isn't that I wouldn't be capable of it; it's only that this town is small, and I fear it will not be long before I am caught. Unfortunately the beast doesn't give me much choice. I do not think she would kill me and destroy her only means of finding food, but I worry that she will threaten my family. I am sure I can risk a few strangers for the lives of my loved ones._

  
Vriska closes the book with a sigh. Every time she reads a passage, she finds she can relate to everything the author has written.   
She found the journal the same day she found the spider; for once in her life, she was completely alone in the Serket manor, and she had decided to go exploring. She went into the basement and found a labirynth of tunnels and collections of very old, seemingly random objects. The journal was laying on an old vanity, covered in a thick layer of dust and grime. Greedy for new information, Vriska had picked it up, and that was when she saw the thick web plastered across the wall in front of her. She looked up and saw a massive white spider, easily three times the size of her.   
She then became the foul thing's feeder. The spider spat in Vriska's eye, giving her a special vision which allowed her to see the paths to the spider's next meal. In exchange for being fed, the spider granted Vriska fortune and protection. She found herself with more luck on her side. She was able to take many risks without facing consequences. Then one day the spider demanded that she killed a person, and that was the point that her life went to shambles.   
The journal had been written by the last person who had fed the spider, and Vriska felt like it was written specifically for her. She could empathise with the author to amazing extents, but she certain that the author was long dead, probably devoured by the spider as she feared.   
Vriska puts the book back down. She doesn't want to think about that too much, or delve into memories she would much rather forget.   
She takes a quick shower, gets changed and waits for Kanaya. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while since I posted a chapter, but I am (slowly) getting through it! Thanks for all your support, and I really hope to keep writing this!

 

Kanaya pulled up in a car Vriska didn't recognise. It was sleek and black with heavily tinted windows.   
"New wheels?" Vriska says as she slides into the passenger seat. "It looks like some kind of mobster's car." she admires the interior. She finds cars pretty interesting, but they would be much more interesting if she actually owned one herself.   
Kanaya hums, starting the car up. "Yup. Porrim let me borrow it."   
Vriska raises an eyebrow. "How is Porrim? She still singing at that bar? I haven't seen her in ages!"   
Kanaya just nods absently. "Yes, she's good."   
Vriska frowns. "You ok there, Maryam? You don't look so good." She has heavy bags under her eyes and looks very pale and agitated.   
Her hands shake as she grips the steering wheel. "I'm fine. Just haven't eaten much today." she begins to drive, her eyes focused firmly on the road and her jaw clenched.   
"That doesn't sound like you." Vriska notes, getting a little concerned. She knew Kanaya often took the well-being of others before her own, but would she really go so far as to stop eating? Something was nagging at the back of Vriska's mind, something that had been written in the journal.   
"I'm fine." Kanaya repeats. "Can we just focus on getting there? I'm unfamiliar with the way there and I'd prefer us to not get lost." she says sharply. Vriska gets the message and shuts up, slumping in her seat and placing her feet on the dashboard.   
"Don't do that." Kanaya chides, without taking her eyes off of the road.   
_______________________________________________________________

The address turns out to be at an abandoned storage shed in the middle of nowhere. It definitely seems suspicious to Vriska, but admittedly she is curious and a bit excited to find out what all of this means.  
Kanaya doesn't look very impressed as she steps out of the car. She pulls her hijab further over her face and then stuffs her hands in her pockets. "Hmm. I was expecting something a bit more dignified." she breathes deeply out of her nose, then turns to Vriska. "Be nice, ok?"   
"When don't I?" she replies, fluttering her eyelashes and using a saccharine-filled voice that never failed to get on Kanaya's nerves.   
All Vriska got was an eye roll before Kanaya quickly storms up to the shed.   
She pushes up the heavy-looking roll-up door with surprising ease and reveals a group of people sitting at a large metal table in the centre of the otherwise-empty shed.   
Vriska looks in and sees three faces staring back at her: one belongs to a dark girl with curly red hair and freckles wearing bright scarlet shades, the other to a pale Japanese girl with heavy eyeliner that made her eyes look huge and spooky, and the other face belonged to someone Vriska recognised; a Hispanic boy with wide eyes and his hair in a mohawk. He was seated in a wheelchair.   
Vriska felt sick. Without thinking, she turned around and sped away from the shed into the forest. She heard Kanaya calling her name, but she kept running.  
Suddenly she felt a cold hand on her wrist and she screamed angrily, having no doubt in her mind who it was.    
"Vriska, it's me, calm down!" Kanaya shouts, still not releasing her grip. "What is going _on_ with you?!"   
Vriska snatched her wrist away viscously. "Nothing. I just- I wasn't prepared to see _him_ there."   
Kanaya raises an eyebrow impatiently, expecting a real answer, but she doesn't know. She _can't_ know what had happened between her and Tavros. If she did, she'd never even look at Vriska again.   
All those memories she had been trying to suppress rushed back to her now. Tavros had been her neighbour; a timid boy who was actually able to speak to animals. Vriska new this because the journal had mentioned another man by the surname Nitram who had the same ability.   
When the spider demanded a human sacrifice, Vriska had chosen Tavros. She obviously wasn't eager to kill anyone, but she figured Tavros would be an easy target. 

She had approached him while he was in the forest at the edge of a cliff, talking to an injured calf. She remembers the wide-eyed expression he had given her when she appeared, even before he knew what her intent was. He had always been scared of her. Maybe he knew that she killed things. Maybe some of the rats she'd killed had been his friends.   
He backed away as she walked nearer to him until he was right at the edge of the cliff. Vriska used the gift of manipulation the spider had lent to her to prevent him from escaping. The spider was too tired and starved to lead Vriska, so she was taking things into her own hands.   
Using the same power, she made Tavros take one more little step backwards, and he fell.   
His screams curdled Vriska's blood, but they were quickly mixed with shrieks of her own as the most painful burning sensation exploded in her left eye. She double over in pain; crying and yelling without noticing that Tavros's screams had ceased.   
Tavros had been the wrong target. Vriska had made a mistake. For whatever reason, the spider didn't want him dead.   
After that incident, Vriska couldn't bring herself to look at him again. But now here he was, reminding her of her ultimate failure.   
Kanaya suddenly looks towards the direction they had just run in. Vriska follows her gaze and sees the girl with the red glasses approach them.   
Vriska tenses and bares her teeth, but the girl doesn't seem deterred. Then Vriska sees the white cane with the scarlet tip in her hands.   
The girl crosses her hands over the top of the cane and leans forward, grinning and showing her strangely sharp teeth. "Leaving so soon? We haven't even gotten to introduce ourselves yet!"  
Vriska snarls. "I don't care who you are. I just want to get out of here."  
"Vriska...." Kanaya warns.   
The blind girl shrugs. "No, I can understand that. But I really think you should hear us out before you take off, little Miss Blueberry!"  
Vriska narrows her eyes and exchanges a glance with Kanaya. "What did you just call me?" she says slowly.   
The girl tilts her head. "Oh, sorry! I just saw a lot of blue, and since you haven't told me your name yet, I improvised!"  
Vriska eyes her cane. "Wait, what? Aren't you blind?"   
The girl taps her glasses and grins. "Legally, yes. Not completely." Vriska think she's going to elaborate more, but she doesn't. "My name's Terezi Pyrope, by the way."   
_Pyrope_. That was the name of the officer that had arrested Vriska's mother years ago. Because Vriska can say anything about it, she is cut off by Kanaya. "It's nice to meet you, Terezi," she says, forcing politeness and niceties. "I'm Kanaya Maryam, and this is Vriska Serket."   
"Pleasure," Vriska snarls, voice dripping with venom.   
"We should really head back." Terezi says pleasantly. "My friends will be wanting some answers. I assume you too will be as well."   
They follow her back to the shed, Vriska nearly shaking with apprehension. She is determined not to let them see how scared she is, though.   
Putting on her brave face, she slumps herself down into a hard metal chair. "Hey Tavros! Been a while, huh?" she says with false bravado.   
He looks like he's trying to shrink inside himself. "Hey, Vriska..." he mutters, not meeting her eye.   
The girl next to him gives Vriska a death glare when her name is said. "You're Vriska?" she glances protectively at Tavros, then looks like she wants to punch Vriska in the face, which was not an expression she was unused to.   
"Yep, that's me! And you are?" she didn't actually care much about the girl at all; she was just curious about whether the journal had something to say about her. 

The girl narrows her eyes. "Aradia Megido." she snaps quickly.   
Vriska smiles. She had definitely read the name Megido before. "Your family's been in this town a long time, hasn't it?" she says cryptically, wondering if she'll pick up on her hint.   
"I guess you could say that." Aradia says quickly, her words clipped and barely suppressing anger.   
Vriska smirks in satisfaction. She had read about a certain curse that prevented any member of the Megido family from leaving town. By the looks of it, Aradia knew about this curse, and it was a sore subject for her.

Kanaya clears her throat. “So, Terezi. Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?” there’s just a tinge of suspicion in her voice. As much as she tried to be polite and cordial, she was apprehensive, Vriska could tell.

“Yeah, I think we’d all like to know what’s been happening.” Tavros pipes up, and he almost sounds confident for a second before he catches Vriska staring and lowers his head.

Did she really have so much power over him that she could destroy him with a single glance? Even though she knew it was wrong, the idea delighted her. She had obviously left a big impression on him. It was a little frightening for her to think that she had made him so afraid.

Terezi didn’t sit down like the rest of them. Vriska had the feeling she liked to be in charge. “So, we all know the reason we’re here. We each received a note giving us directions to this very place.”

“You’re making it sound like we’re on trial or something,” Vriska scoffed, trying to catch Kanaya’s eye, but she wouldn’t look at her. Vriska just found Terezi’s way of speaking hilarious. She sounded so confident and serious, like a lawyer who knew exactly how the trial was going to play out. Vriska found that idea adorable. She couldn’t possibly know what was going to happen. The only thing that could possibly tell the future was Vriska’s spider, and even she didn’t know everything for sure.

 Terezi tilts her head, grinning knowingly. "This is an investigation, is it not?" Vriska could swear her eyes were burning right through her. "Now, about the identity of the author..."  
Vriska almost laughs at how ridiculous she sounds. She was taking herself way too seriously; a trait that could easily become her downfall. Vriska knew that experience first-hand. Who does this girl think she is, with her obviously unneeded cane and self-righteous talk?  
Terezi smirks like she knows exactly what Vriska's thinking. "I know this may come off as a surprise to you all, but..." she pauses, most likely for dramatic effect. “I think I wrote those notes." the confidence left her voice in the last sentence, and for the first time she seems unsure of herself.   
"Uh, Terezi?" Tavros starts. "You can't write."   
"That's why it's surprising, Tavros." the blind girl says, like a kindergarten teacher who's had to explain something a few too many times.   
"What exactly are you saying, Terezi?" Aradia says. She seems to be losing her patience a bit, braiding sections of her hair in boredom.   
"I'm saying that somehow I managed to write notes with directions to a place I've never been, and deliver them to our houses, including my own, and remembering it all as if it were a dream." Terezi's voice is tight now. It's obvious she feels like she's losing control of the convrrsation.   
Kanaya furrows her brow, a sure sign that her brain has been ticking into overdrive. "So you...slept walked?" she sums up.

Terezi shakes head as if she's already considered the idea. "I don't think so. Sleepwalkers do things that are part of their normal routines. I don't even know where you live."   
"How is that possible, then?" Aradia asks.   
Terezi sighs. "I have a speculation. But I'm not sure how believable it is."  
Vriska rolls her eyes. "Just get on with it, Pyrope!"   
The blind girl turns her head with a look that's equally amused and frustrated. "Patience obviously isn't your virtue." she mutters. "I've been having experiences like this for a long time, but none that have directly interfered with another person's life." she begins, carefully calculating each word before she says it. "I'll wake up outside somewhere, usually a place I've never been, but it's a little hard to tell sometimes." she taps her glasses. "I usually have some vague memory of what I've been doing- bringing food or trinkets of some kind to a cave somewhere- but nothing clear enough to get any real idea of what's going on."   
"So you're going sleepwalking and waking up in weird places. Not the craziest thing I've heard of." Vriska says nonchalantly.   
"We've already ruled out the possibility of sleepwalking, Vriska." Kanaya snaps under her breath.   
"There's more, if you'd be polite enough to listen." Terezi is losing her patience with Vriska a bit, much like everyone else in the shed. It didn't look like Vriska was making any new friends today. 

Terezi continues. "The crazy part is that my most prominent memory is of a dragon."   
Vriska raises an eyebrow. "How do you know it's a dragon?"   
Terezi sighs. "I mentioned that I'm only legally blind, didn't I? I could clearly tell that it was a dragon, alright?"   
"Yeah, you mentioned it, but you never really explained what you meant." Vriska noted how she said she could 'tell' it was a dragon, not see.   
"She doesn't have to explain anything to you." Aradia chimes in, still fixing Vriska with that poisonous glare. 

Terezi flaps a hand. "Its fine, Aradia. Obviously we're all here for a reason. My vision may have something to do with it." She pauses for a second. “I can see, but not in the way the rest of you do. It’s…a little hard to explain, but I’ll do my best. I’m able to smell and taste colours, and that gives me a visual image of the world around me.”

Kanaya raises her head. “I think I’ve heard of something like that. What was it called? Sythnse- no, syneth-”

“Synaesthesia, yes. Lexical-gustatory synaesthesia, to be exact.” Terezi cuts in quickly. “But as far as I know, everyone who has been diagnosed with that is able to see. I’ve been blind from birth.”

“That is strange.” Kanaya muses. Vriska could see her frustration. She was a strong believer of logic and sense, and hated not knowing anything. Vriska had to admit it was interesting, but she wasn’t thinking too hard about it. The mention of a dragon had triggered a memory from the journal. According to the author, the dragon was as real as Vriska’s spider. Apparently the dragon had played a part in the author’s downfall, and probably had some connections to Terezi’s ancestry. Of course, Vriska couldn’t say anything about that. If anyone knew the kind of information the journal held, they’d try to take it from her. No way was she going to let that happen.

“So what does the dragon have to do with your sight?” she said. She wanted to see if Terezi knew as much about the dragon as she did.

“This is probably the craziest part. But I think the dragon might have given me this sight. And somehow, it’s bringing me to it and making me do favours for it while I sleep.”

Tavros kneads his hands together. “Do you think the dragon is communing with you? You know, like how I can commune with animals, and things…” he trails off when he sees Kanaya gawking at him in shock. Vriska notices that Terezi and Aradia don’t seem surprised. She gives him a knowing smile, and he turns away quickly.

“You can do _what?!”_ Kanaya exclaims, and Vriska almost laughs at the hilarity of her expression.

All eyes are on Tavros now, and he doesn’t look like he enjoys it. “W-well, I can talk to animals, and kind of…tell them what to do, I guess?”

Kanaya exhales and sinks into her chair. “Oh, wonderful. Are there any other strange abilities like this I should know about?”

Vriska smiles to herself. If only she knew the half of it.

Aradia pipes up, a bizarre grin spreading across her face. “Well, I can see ghosts and hear their voices!” she says, a little too cheerfully. Vriska frowns. She didn’t remember reading anything like that, but then again, it might have been difficult for the author to tell if there was a ghost-whisperer in town.

Terezi hums. “It seems like there’s a common theme here. Vriska! Do you have anything to add?” she cheerfully points her cane in Vriska’s direction. She wonders just how accurate the blind girl’s taste-vision really is.

She leans away from the cane and stares dead-pan into Terezi’s eyes. “Nope. I’m completely normal.” She catches Tavros looking at her, and she gives him a violent glare, lips pulled over her teeth. He flinches and looks down, but Aradia doesn’t break her stare on Vriska.

“What about your eye?” the girl says firmly. Vriska meets her gaze, but neither breaks eye contact for a long time.

“What about it?” she snaps instinctively. “I got in and accident years ago. It damaged my eye. That’s it.”

Aradia narrows her eyes and tilts her head. “Really? Because I don’t think that’s what a damaged eye looks like.”

“Let’s not worry about that now!” Kanaya intercepts, a little too quickly. She didn’t know the truth about Vriska’s eyes, so why was so being so defensive? Unless she has something to hide and doesn’t want anyone asking about her. The idea of that was strange. Kanaya was the most normal person in Vriska’s life, as far as she was concerned. Not to say that she was boring or anything; Vriska just never would suspect that Kanaya was anything out of the ordinary. The weirdest thing she did was read an absurd amount of romance novels.

“I agree. I’m not interested in finding out all of your deep, dark secrets.” Terezi says getting straight back into business. “Nevertheless, I think these interesting abilities we all-” she exhales out of her nose in impatience. “I mean, _most_ of us possess, is the reason that we’re all here. It’s the reason my dragon got me to write a note to each of you, directing us to meet up. I believe that there’s a greater purpose for us being brought together. I think we were meant to use-”

Terezi was cut off as a chilling refrain played out tinnily from somewhere in the room. Aradia frantically searched through her pockets and fished out an ugly old phone. “Sorry everyone!” she mouthed as she pressed a button. “Dad? No, I’m fine, I’m with Tavros. Damara…no? The last time I saw her was this morning. I’m sure- no, I’ll call Rufioh, it’ll be fine. Yes, I’ll go now, don’t worry.” She hangs up and sighs.

Tavros looks concerned. “Did something happen to Damara?”

Aradia shakes her head. “I don’t know. Sorry to cut this short, but I have to go look for her. You know how worried dad gets.” Everyone else nods except for Kanaya and Vriska.

“Alright, I guess I’m ready to leave too. I think we’ve covered a lot today, anyway.” Terezi says. “How about we meet here again say…the same time next week?”

“Now wait a second!” Kanaya protests.

“What the hell? You think we’re coming back here?” Vriska exclaims, standing and attempting to tower over Terezi, but of course the blind girl doesn’t seem intimidated.

“Oh? I thought was the logical next step! We’ve got so much to talk about!” Vriska can sense something vaguely threatening behind Terezi’s saccharine-sweet voice. “Besides, there was someone else I wanted to introduce to the rest of you. She wasn’t able to make it today, but I’m sure she could next week.”

Aradia was smoothing out her clothes and taking a few steps towards the door. “Oh, is she that girl you were telling us about? The one you found in the forest?”

Terezi nods excitedly. “Ah, yes, you remember! Yeah, that’s her. It’d be a shame if you missed out on meeting her, Vriska and Kanaya.”

Vriska narrows her eyes, but Kanaya sighs in defeat. “Fine. I suppose we could come back. I don’t really see the point in it, though…”

Vriska stares at her in surprise. She would have thought Kanaya would refuse to come back to see these weirdos again. But maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. After all, it was interesting to piece together information from the journal and see how it fits into real life.

Tavros wheels himself away from the table and towards Aradia. “I guess we’ll see you then,” he says, more to Kanaya than Vriska. He’s already past them before Vriska can say anything. She’s not sure if she wants to, though. What would she say, anyway? Would she keep up her tough act, pretend it never happened, or suck up to him and try to apologise? It doesn’t appear to matter though, because he and Terezi are already out the door, Aradia giving Vriska the evil eye over her shoulder. Something told her the girl knew something or other about Tavros’ “accident”. There wasn’t much written about a Megido in the journal, but there was enough for Vriska to know she didn’t want to get on the wrong side of one.

 

 

 


End file.
